More Magical Seas parts

"Yawn" ...hello again,
I just got out of bed after my nightshift days and the coffee has yet to kick in.
The past days were busy with painting for the "Things with Flowers" challenge , apart from spending time at work . But I got some nice paintings done.

A glass bottle

Dreamcatcher

Watering can....and more, which you can see on my Instagram account
 https://www.instagram.com/snowyraven/

Talking about # favorite things .... two of the most important are your eyes and your camera .
I get funny looks from other people sometimes when I snap pictures of leaves ;)

These for example. These have a stem in the middle and oval shape leaves with a pointed end .

When you look at Morning Glory leaves you will notice that they are like an upside down heart shape.

Then the size.... you have large single oval leaves or 5 or more smaller ones on a single stem. Some have smooth edges, some have little feathered zig zag edges. Also notice the color of the leaves Are they a light green, a rich dark green , are they short before falling off and turning a yellow green?
When you paint these kind of observations are important. I think artists (designers, photographers, painters ) notice these things a lot more when they are out in nature. They are a lot more conscious of colors, shapes and textures even when they just look at weeds by the road side, because even there you can find inspiration.
You can train yourself to be more conscious of these things. Try it when you take a walk next time :)
Maybe even snap a picture or two , or pick a couple of leaves , take them home ,study the shape and draw it. Or better , get your watercolors out. There are some great tutorials on just painted leaves. Just give it a try...it's fun :)

Ok, now to freebie links
Here are two more parts of Magical Seas for you

More papers
http://www.mediafire.com/file/2pbcg9ounna3alx/sr_magicalseas_papers2.zip/file

and elements
http://www.mediafire.com/file/fmzdu6e9aqgdu60/sr_magicalseas_ele2.zip/file

More of this kit next week again ...did I mention it's a large kit ?

Have a great week and be creative.
Hugs Snowy

Start of new freebie kit again

Good morning :)
I'm enjoying the peace of a weekend off work this time. It doesn't happen that often that I have a long weekend off , so for me it's something special to have all that time to myself.
And I made the most of these days off with sunshine , spent time outside but I also did a lot of painting in the early mornings and evenings.

I discovered a new challenge called "things with flowers"

 Having so much fun with this :)

And I completed another Skillshare class , painting feathers.
By the way , if you are on Instagram you can see more on my account there than I post here.
https://www.instagram.com/snowyraven/

I'm currently taking a break from that never-ending sorting on the external 3 TB drive ....the weather was just too nice to stay in and spend so much time at the computer. But I will get back to it when it rains :)
I bought some new resources for kits and just had to play with some straight away. made some backgrounds and a quickpage .

The gradients, brushes and other stuff in this pack are just amazing !
I love the vintage look I can get with this :)
And with these kind of backgrounds not many elements are needed , otherwise you would only cover up the gorgeous brushes.

I will skip the "favorite things" and painting tips this time , because I still have lots of previews for the new kit to show. But I will get back to it next post.

Are you ready for the previews?
Here comes the new freebie "Magical Seas"

Here the first links
Papers
http://www.mediafire.com/file/34bh6g2jx9xku1b/sr_magicalseas_papers1.zip

and elements
http://www.mediafire.com/file/n7hqbues6ts66tj/sr_magicalseas_ele1.zip

Enjoy and I will be back with more next weekend :)
Hugs Snowy

Last 2 parts of Dreamscape kit

Hello :)
After a  nearly a week of dry and sunny weather I woke up to rain and a grey sky this morning. Perfect opportunity to spend time painting.
When the weather is nice I rather be outside instead of sitting down at my desk ;)
But I got stuck at the desk the last evenings....you see, I bought this 3 terabyte external drive a while back, because my other 3 terabyte drive was getting full. You won't believe the amount of graphics and resources, e-books, photos and music you collect in a space of over 10 years. So I decided I needed to go through the folders and split /tidy half of the files and transfer them to the new drive.
....whose freaking stupid idea was that? Oh wait...it was me ! I mean....how long can it take to sort through 3 terabyte of files??? ....forever ,it seems,lol.
In 8 hours I have only just scratched the surface. Make that another year long project , I think :)
On the plus side , it's amazing what you find . There is so much stuff I forgot I had...

I painted this tropical bouquet this morning. See the white bits on the leaves? I will get to those further down in the post...

Tropical leaf

And an abstract sphere ...see the white bits again? And the texture?

Yeah, I'm getting to those now.
There are a few tools for special effects out there.
The white dots are white ink. And the lines are white gel pen.
These two are probably the "special tools" I use most. I have tried and tested a lot of different white gel pens, and one brand stood out.
Same with the ink. I tried white watercolor paint, acrylic , gouache paint, but one brand of white ink couldn't be beaten and made it to my favorite things.

This pen came out best in my trials. With some other pens you can barely see the white on watercolor, but this one makes wonderful white lines.

Same goes for this ink. It beat all the other paints. And the good thing: for really fine lines or lettering it works with nip and dip pen , not just a brush. It also blends beautifully with watercolors to add highlights or texture
Talking of texture.... try sprinkling grains of salt on to still wet watercolor. Let it dry completely and then carefully brush the salt off. It will give a lovely texture effect. The size of the grains also makes a difference. You get a finer texture with fine salt and the larger salt grains a more pronounced texture. I always have a small tin with salt in on my desk with the paint supplies.

Ok, let's get to Dreamscape.
The last 2 parts

http://www.mediafire.com/file/4gkw9dp4287zoyl/sr_dreamscape2.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/6k9yv89kb3yj4fa/sr_dreamscape4.zip

That means another new kit next week. Hmmm...what do I have on this external drive?
I know ! Let's go to the seaside....

Have a wonderful week and until next weekend .
Hugs Snowy

Dreamscape freebie starts

Good morning .... and a good one it is ! The sun is shining , the temperature is more pleasant and it's really looking like spring outside now :)
I don't start work until 11pm tonight , so I have the day to do what I like.

Yesterday I finished my painting for the " Mermay" challenge and competition.
Those of you who know me , know I am not the cute little mermaid person....but a sexy merman ...yes ,please ! :) And I can't wait for the Aquaman movie to be in the cinemas later this year.

My loose style flowers are getting better . The phrase "practice makes perfect " is certainly true :)

Ok, let's talk about brushes. For watercolor painting beginners I recommend round brushes. You get them with synthetic and with animal hairs.

I like the Royal and Langnickel brushes. Of course you get more expensive and better quality brushes , but these will do nicely to start.  They are synthetic hair , which is softer than animal hair and better for beginners. The rounded tip let's you paint finer lines , but by pressing down you get thicker brush strokes.

I would recommend  at least 3 to 4 brushes. A really fine one , size 0 for fine lines and detail, a size 4, a size 8 and a large size 12 . There are a lot of special effect brushes out there as well.

For larger backgrounds or washes it's handy to have a large flat brush.

So...we had paper, paints and brushes. All we need now is water and tissue paper or an old cloth.

It's best to have two jars with water . One for washing the brush , and one with clean water to activate paints and load your brush. You don't want to use the dirty water for that. The colors wouldn't be pure anymore and might get a muddy dirty tint.

The tissue paper or cloth (I use kitchen roll) is for dabbing excess water from your brush or the paper.

Next post I will tell you about useful tools and special effect stuff.

Now it's time for Dreamscape , previews and links

http://www.mediafire.com/file/lzsc01ylcflqa8l/sr_dreamscape1.zip

http://www.mediafire.com/file/w0founlv4h8zoe4/sr_dreamscape3.zip

I'll be back with the rest next week :)
Hugs Snowy